Pilot killed as plane crashes at Venice golf course

Investigators today will seek to determine the cause of a fatal, single-engine plane crash on Penmar Golf Course in Venice, next to Santa Monica Municipal Airport.

The pilot was identified by the Department of Coroner today as Robert R. Davenport, 60, of Los Angeles.

He died in the crash, which was reported at 6:06 p.m. Thursday near the eighth hole of the nine-hole course at 1233 E. Rose Ave., Erik Scott of the Los Angeles Fire Department said.

Several golfers on the course ran to the crash scene, but there was nothing they could do.

The sole occupant of the plane was declared dead at the scene, Scott said. No other injuries were reported.

The single-engine, prop-driven Cessna 152 had just taken off from the Santa Monica airport a few hundred yards to the northeast, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

The student pilot was practicing touch-and-go landings and takeoffs before the crash, KCAL9 reported.

Steve Hagins, identified by KCAL9 as a regular player at the golf course, said he was surprised plane crashes don't occur more often at Penmar because of its proximity to the airport.

The entire golf course is in the immediate path of planes that take off from the Santa Monica airport, Hagins said.

"They are full-powered," Hagins told KCAL9. "They are not at an altitude where they have any luxury of losing power.

"And if they do, they're coming in," Hagins said. "And if they come in, it is a miracle that they don't hit one of these golfers. Just a couple of blocks down the street is a park where there's constantly kids playing basketball and baseball.

"This is something that has been overdue to happen for a long time, and I'm surprised that it doesn't happen more often," Hagins said.

Los Angeles City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, who represents the 11th District that includes Venice, estimated more than 100,000 flights land or depart at the Santa Monica airport each year.

"The only thing I can say, and it's not a pleasant thing to say, thank God it landed here rather than in the homes just on the other side of the golf course or just before the golf course," Rosendahl told KCAL9.

Investigators and workers removed the wrecked plane from the golf course about 11:30 p.m., a video news crew at the scene reported.

Penmar Golf Course, operated by the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks, opened in 1962.

The Santa Monica airport's aviation history dates back to 1919, when pilots used the site as an informal grass landing strip. The Douglas Aircraft Co. began using the airport in 1922 to test and fly production aircraft, completely moving to the site in 1929, according to the airport's website.